Fixed: WD My Passport Ultra Not Showing Up in Windows 11/10

When your WD My Passport Ultra hard drive or external hard drive is not showing up, you can neither access nor use the drive on your computer.

But don't worry. Follow this guide, and you'll learn about the causes and solutions to fix the WD Passport Ultra external hard drive not showing up issues on your own:

It can be frustrating when your WD My Passport is not detected on a Windows PC, causing inconvenience for many users. Here's a real scenario:

"WD My Passport is not showing up in File Explorer. Hi all, I've been given my friend's Western Digital Passport, which has stopped appearing in File Explorer. What steps can I take to resolve this issue?" - Reddit

Fortunately, this article provides the best WD My Passport repair tool and offers 6 effective solutions to address the issue of WD Passport not appearing in File Explorer. To rectify the "WD My Passport not detected" error, you need to follow two steps. Firstly, let's examine the status of your WD external hard drive to determine the most suitable solution for your problem. If you find this tutorial helpful, please share it with others.

Part 1. Check the Status of WD External Hard Drive in Disk Management

Connect the WD external hard drive to your computer using the USB cable. If the WD Passport doesn't appear in File Explorer, follow these steps to check the status of your WD external hard drive in Disk Management:

Step 1. Press the Windows + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc in the Run box, and click "OK."

Open Disk Management

Step 2. In Disk Management, locate and check the status of your WD external hard drive.

If the WD Passport not showing up in Disk Management, continue reading for other fixes.

Part 2. Fix WD My Passport External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Issue

Inspect the status of your undetected WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive and refer to the appropriate solution to restore normal functionality. Out of the 6 remedies, Fix 1 and Fix 2 typically work effectively for detection issues since bad sectors and file system corruption are common causes. Therefore, if you confirm that your device has no hardware errors, proceed with Fix 1 and Fix 2 to attempt resolution.

Fix 1: Check and Fix Corrupted File System/Bad Sector on Undetected WD Disk

Applies to: Fix WD Passport external hard drive not showing up in Windows 11/10 due to file system error or bad sectors.

If the system files are damaged or the WD device has bad sectors, Windows Disk Management may recognize it as "Other" or RAW. Your computer might not even detect it through File Explorer.

A tool like a partition manager software, with its Check File System feature, can be of assistance. If Disk Management can recognize the issue, you can utilize this tool to repair the corrupted file system and bad sectors on the Western Digital hard drive.

Follow the steps below to learn how to fix corrupted system files and bad sectors on your WD device:

After that, check the drive. If your files are missing, proceed to Part 3 and use dependable data recovery software to retrieve all your WD external hard drive data.

Solution 2: Add a New Drive Letter to Make WD Passport External Hard Drive Visible

Applies to: Resolving issues with a WD Passport external hard drive not showing up due to drive letter conflict.

If your WD shows up as "New Volume" without a drive letter in Disk Management, it won't be visible in File Explorer. Don't worry.

You can change or assign a new drive letter to the WD Passport so it can be detected and accessed again on your Windows PC.

Step 1. Press the Win + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc in the Run dialog, and click "OK" to open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click on the WD drive that fails to show up and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths...".

Change the WD device driver letter.

Step 3. Click "Add", assign a new drive letter to the WD external drive, and click "OK".

If the WD drive has already been assigned a letter, click "Change" to select another one. After doing this, restart your PC and see if you can access the WD external hard drive in Windows File Explorer. Once you can view your drive, you can also format it using File Explorer or other methods. If you're interested in this, click the link below:

How to Format WD My Passport on Windows 10 [4 Simple Methods]

If you have a WD My Passport drive and are unsure about formatting it using Windows 10, don't panic. Keep reading this article. Here, we will guide you through four quick and straightforward ways to format WD My Passport on Windows 10.

Solution 3: Plug in the WD My Passport Halfway into USB

This solution is more of a workaround. As per a user's suggestion on a forum, you can try this “strange way” to get your computer to recognize the external hard drive. Here's how:

< strong > Step 1. < /strong> Plug the USB cable halfway into your computer's USB ports.

Step 2. Wait for the WD hard drive to appear in File Explorer.

Step 3. When you see your hard drive, push the USB all the way into the USB port.

It may be irrational, but many people have found this trick helpful. Give it a try!

Solution 4: Use a Different USB Cable/Port or PC

If you encounter the WD Passport not showing up issue, you can also try the following two solutions:

Translate the following text into English:
• Check the cable: Defective or incompatible cables can cause connection issues. Make sure you're using the original USB cable that came with your My Passport drive.
• Try a different port: One of the ports might be malfunctioning. Attempt connecting the drive to a different USB port on your laptop!

When your WD hard drive doesn't show up in File Explorer or Disk Management, try switching the USB cable, using a different USB port, or connecting it to a new PC to check if the drive is readable.

< strong > Step 1. < /strong> Switch the USB port/cable and plug it into your computer.

If the drive can be read using a new USB cable or on a different computer, then the drive is functioning properly. The issue lies with the USB cable.

Step 2. Reconnect the WD drive to a new USB hub or to a different computer.

Here are the translations of the provided text into English:
• If the WD Passport drive appears, it indicates that the damaged USB hub is the issue preventing WD from showing up.
• If the WD Passport is not detected on your current or the new PC, replace the WD drive with a new one.

Fix 5: Update WD External Device Driver & Reinstall BUS Controllers

When the WD Passport drive isn't functioning properly, it could be due to outdated device drivers. The ideal solution is to update the driver using one of the following three methods:

#1. Download and Install WD Device Driver:

Step 1. Connect the problematic WD external hard drive to your PC.

Step 2. Right-click on the Windows icon and select "Device Manager".

Step 3. Locate and expand Disk Drivers, Portable Devices, Universal Serial Bus Controllers, or Other devices.

Check if the WD external hard drive is showing up as an "Unknown" device.

Step 4. Right-click on the Unknown or non-working WD external hard drive and select "Properties."

Step 5. Go to the Details tab and set Property to "Hardware Ids."

Step 6. Right-click the top value and select "Copy."

Update the WD device driver.

< strong > Step 7. < /strong > Paste it into a browser and search for the correct device driver.

Step 8. Locate and download the correct WD device driver, then install it on your computer.

Once done, restart your computer. And everything should work fine with your WD My Passport Ultra drive.

#2. Update WD Device Driver via Device Manager:

Step 1. Right-click on the Windows icon and select "Device Manager".

Step 2. Expand Device Manager and right-click the WD My Passport Ultra drive.

Step 3. Choose "Update driver".

Update WD device driver

Step 4. Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software" and wait for the process to finish.

#3. Uninstall/Reinstall USB Controllers This step involves removing and reinstalling the USB controller drivers on your computer to refresh their configuration. Here's how: 1. **Open Device Manager**: Press `Windows key + X` and select "Device Manager" from the menu. 2. **Find USB Controllers**: In the Device Manager window, expand the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" category. 3. **Uninstall USB Controllers**: Right-click on each USB controller listed and choose "Uninstall device." Make sure to uncheck "Delete the driver software for this device" to keep the generic USB driver. 4. **Restart Your PC**: After uninstalling all USB controllers, restart your computer. This will trigger Windows to automatically reinstall the drivers. 5. **Check for Improvements**: Once your PC is back on, check if the USB devices are functioning correctly. If the issue persists, you might need to update or download the latest USB controller drivers from the manufacturer's website.

When the Universal USB Bus Controllers are outdated, it may also prevent your WD Passport from being detected or appearing. So you can try to uninstall and reinstall the USB controllers:

Step 1. Right-click on the Windows icon and select "Device Manager".

Step 2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, right-click on the USB controllers of the WD drive, and select "Uninstall device".

Repeat to uninstall each USB controller one by one.

Step 3. Restart your computer, and Windows will automatically reinstall the USB controllers for your WD drive.

After this, you should be able to access the saved data on your WD Passport Ultra drive normally.

Fix 6: Send "Unknown" & Undetected WD External Hard Drive for Repair

If your WD external hard drive shows up as "Unknown" in Disk Management, the last resort you can try is to send the disk for repair.

For this issue, you have two options:

1. Option 1. Beyond the Warranty: Take your WD external hard drive to a local repair shop for service - Option 1. Out of Warranty: Send your WD external drive to a nearby repair center 2. Option 2. Within the Warranty: Return the WD external disk directly to the manufacturer - Option 2. In Warranty: Send the WD external drive back to the manufacturer

Is this section helpful? If you manage to solve your issue using these methods, please share this article to help others.

Part 3. Retrieve Data from the WD External Disk and Format It to Function Again

If your WD hard drive appears, you can access the disk again. Take the final guide in this section to fully protect your files and make the WD external hard drive functional for saving and editing data again.

#1. Retrieve Data from WD External Hard Drive

Here are two methods to completely retrieve files from your WD external hard drive:

1. Open and copy data from your WD hard drive to another storage device as a backup. 2. Recover lost files from the WD drive using file recovery software.

Hey, just FYI, if you happen to lose some important files during this process, don't freak out. Professional file recovery software can usually get your files back with these 3 simple steps:

**Step 1. Choose and scan the external hard drive**

1. Download and install the Data Recovery tool on your PC or laptop. 2. Connect the external hard drive to your computer. 3. Run the Data Recovery Wizard and select the external drive from the External Drives list. Then, click on Scan for Lost Data.

Step 2. Check the scan results

1. The data recovery software will instantly scan the selected drive for all data, including deleted, corrupted, and existing files. 2. You can utilize the Filter feature to swiftly locate specific file types, such as Pictures, Word documents, Excel sheets, PDFs, videos, emails, etc.

Step 3. Preview and recover data

1. Double-click a file from the scanned results to preview. 2. Choose the files you want and click "Recover." 3. Select a different drive to save the recovered files instead of the original one.

Remember to save the recovered files to another secure location and then move to the next guide to format your WD My Passport external hard drive to be usable again.

#2. Format WD External Hard Drive to Usable Format

Here, you can also let Partition Master tool help. It's easy and efficient to format a disk:

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the "Format" option.

Step 2. Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and cluster size to the selected partition, and then click "OK".

Step 3. In the Warning window, click "Yes" to continue.

Step 4. Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the upper-left corner to review the changes, and then click "Apply" to begin formatting your external hard drive, USB, or SD card.

After that, you can save the data back to your WD external hard drive again. Some of you may also want to learn what causes the WD external hard drive not showing up on the computer. Keep reading and find it out.

Why Is My WD Passport Not Appearing?

We consulted numerous seasoned users and IT professionals, and we have identified the following reasons for the issue. Let's explore why your WD Passport Ultra external drive is not appearing:

1. A faulty USB port/cable or a damaged USB hub on the PC 2. Corrupted file system or bad sectors make the WD drive unreadable 3. No drive letter is assigned to the WD Passport drive 4. The WD drive driver is out of date 5. Universal USB controller drivers are outdated

These issues may also cause malfunctions in some of your other devices, such as:

So, how do you fix these errors and make your WD Passport Ultra external hard drive show up on your PC again? Follow the tutorials provided above to get rid of this issue immediately.

Make sure the WD external hard drive is showing up and functioning properly.

On this page, we discussed why the WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive is not appearing on a Windows PC and presented 6 effective solutions for you to implement to get the drive to reappear.

As a beginner, we recommend following the entire guide step by step. These solutions also apply to the same issue on all brands of external hard drives, internal hard drives, USBs, or SD cards.

Now, it's your turn. Take steps to resolve the issue of your WD external hard drive not showing up and get it functioning again without data loss.

People Also Ask

For further inquiries regarding the WD Passport, please refer to the questions and answers below. You will find a satisfactory answer:

1. WD My Passport not appearing on Mac

If you're experiencing an issue where your WD My Passport external or internal hard drive is not appearing on your Mac, you can try the following tips listed here for assistance: (Some are similar to those on this page)

Here are the translations of the languages provided into English: 1. Reconnect WD Passport to Mac 2. Change WD Passport drive letter 3. Remount WD Passport to Mac 4. Update WD Passport drive driver 5. Format WD My Passport on Mac

2. How to use WD Passport on Windows 10? To use your WD Passport on Windows 10, follow these steps: 1. **Connect the WD Passport:** Plug in the USB cable that came with your WD Passport into the drive and your computer's USB port. Make sure it's securely connected. 2. **Wait for Detection:** Windows 10 should automatically detect the external hard drive and prompt you with a notification or show it in File Explorer. 3. **Format if Necessary:** If it's a new or uninitialized drive, Windows may ask if you want to format it. Choose "Format" only if you don't need any data currently on the drive. Otherwise, skip this step. 4. **Accessing the Drive:** Open File Explorer by pressing the Windows key + E or clicking the File Explorer icon in the taskbar. Your WD Passport should appear under "This PC" or "Devices with Removable Storage." 5. **Transfer Files:** To copy files to or from the WD Passport, simply drag and drop them between the drive and your computer's folders. 6. **Backup with WD Software (Optional):** If you have the WD Backup software installed, launch it and configure a backup schedule according to your preferences. 7. **Eject the Drive:** Before disconnecting the WD Passport, make sure to safely eject it to prevent any data loss. Right-click the WD Passport icon in File Explorer, then click "Eject" or use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option in the system tray. Remember to always safely eject the drive to avoid potential data corruption.

For a new WD Passport: 1. Connect the Passport to a Windows 10 PC. 2. Open Disk Management. 3. Initialize the Disk (refer to this guide). 4. Create a New Partition on the WD Passport drive.

For a used WD Passport: Connect it to a Windows 10 device > Open it in File Explorer to utilize it. If you require more space, delete unnecessary files on it to free up space.

Therefore, there can be numerous reasons why your external hard drive is not showing up. Here are some of the main causes:

Here are the translations of the languages you provided in English:
• The external hard drive is not connected to the PC properly
• The external hard drive is not connected to the computer correctly
• Faulty USB cable or USB hub
• Broken USB cable or USB hub
• External hard drive is not initialized
• External hard drive has not been initialized
• External hard drive doesn't contain a volume
• External hard drive has no partition or volume
• External hard drive has no drive letter
• The external hard drive is not assigned a drive letter
• External hard drive contains file system error, bad sectors, or virus
• External hard drive has file system errors, damaged sectors, or a virus

To resolve the issue, refer to the External/ Internal Hard Drive Not Showing Up solution for Windows 10/8/7.